Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: Moto on October 09, 2009, 02:54:36 AM
-
Just curious, since I've been away from the Amiga scene for so long, out of the 1000, 500, 2000, 3000, 600, 1200 and 4000, which is the LEAST popular with the Amiga community?
Here in the US back in the old days, the 500 seemed to be the most popular. Most of the people I knew had a 500 and maybe a 2000.
But now I see that the 500, 1200 and 4000 are the most talked about systems on the forums and there seems to be the most support for them. I don't see too many new products for the 2000 or 3000 at all.
-
I'd say the A600 is the least popular/common Amiga in the USA and in general, on this side of the planet... the A600 (NTSC) version seems to be quite rare and it goes for some cash when one shows on epay...
Cheers
-
It was the A600, at least until very recently. I remember in the early days of my eBay selling (1997ish, despite eBay saying I registered in 1998), I would have a hard time getting anything for a new in the box A600. My friend's brick & mortar Amiga shop couldn't move A600s at all. It was a terribly underpowered Amiga when it came out and showed the stupidity on parade at Commodore.
That said, nowadays NTSC Amiga 600s are a hot commodity. So I guess it depends on what era you mean. Nowadays? Amiga 2000s are like kryptonite. Earlier this year I auctioned a new boxed Amiga 2000 and got ~$150. I felt like I got kicked smack in the scrotum. :eek:
-
I think the A600 was always the sexiest Amiga ever. I had one and it was just so dang cute and compact. I tried hard as hell to justify keeping it, but finally sold it. If it only had a touch more power it was the perfect form factor Amiga.
Next to that the beauty with the brains was the A3000. All the power and great looks.
As for the worst, I ALWAYS ALWAYS thought the A2000 was a terribly ugly piece of dog crap. The only redeeming characteristic was the whole Video Toaster connection. Now that the Video Toaster is pretty damn useless 15 year old technology, I think the A2000s need a mass burial at sea.
If there were only some way to make those A600 keyboards compatible with the mini-mig or PC connectors so I could wedge a better computer inside the A600 case (running an Amiga Emulator or something), I would be in heaven. Provided I could find another A600.
-Alex
-
Well, it seems the winner is the A1500--it hasn't even been mentioned in the least popular thread!
-
I think the A2000s need a mass burial at sea.
Remember that the 2000 is the most eassy to expand Amiga. It has plenty of space isnide. It is a good solution for Amiga retro maniacs that do not want to move to PPC stuff even on their classics. On the other hand someone has to pay some good cash for a 2060 accelerator. But there are still the 2030 ones :)
-
For me its the A500+ (Amiga 500 Plus). A really piece of useless crap!
-
CDTV, A2500 (just for the nameplate really) & yeah... the A600 for sure.
@Gulliver, why is the A500+ useless or crap??
-
A friend of mine gave me his fully loaded 2000 (GVP 030 combo, etc) in 1994 and I kept it a year before selling it to some university for $250 who was going around buying as many as they could. The 2000 always felt like another beige box and didn't inspire me. I always liked Commodore's crazy case designs. And man that 2000 is heavy! Reminds me of the original IBM PCs.
@beast96GT & @Gulliver : I wasn't counting those oddball systems :-)
-daniel
-
Just curious, since I've been away from the Amiga scene for so long, out of the 1000, 500, 2000, 3000, 600, 1200 and 4000, which is the LEAST popular with the Amiga community?
Everyone has their own opinon but and for me personally, I'd only be interested in owning a 1200, 3000 or 4000.
Least fav of the rest would have to be the 600, Commodore at their silliest.
-
I guess the least popular Amigas here at the Underground Arcade office would have to be the poor old A2000s. Both of them have been killed by their clock batteries, and sit in our temporary Amiga graveyard next to a couple of CD32s, some A1200s and an A500. Yet if we can ever afford to get any of them fixed, I know for sure it won't be the A2000s going first, the A1200s and CD32s are far more useful (one of the CD32s has a fully decked SX32 in it).
Still, I do wish I can get those old A2000s up and running again some day, I think it'd be fun to experiment with the wide range of Zorro II cards out there.
It's funny how the A600 was traditionally the least popular Amiga, yet lately with more hardware expansion options available for them, they've become more popular at last, an that's okay with me because they're so cute! My A600 has a USB numeric keypad, mouse, control pad, and can go online. I use it to chat on IRC and MSN, and for online gaming in MUDs.
-
A friend of mine gave me his fully loaded 2000 (GVP 030 combo, etc) in 1994 and I kept it a year before selling it to some university for $250 who was going around buying as many as they could. The 2000 always felt like another beige box and didn't inspire me. I always liked Commodore's crazy case designs. And man that 2000 is heavy! Reminds me of the original IBM PCs.
@beast96GT & @Gulliver : I wasn't counting those oddball systems :-)
-daniel
The Amiga 2000 was a tour de force of expandibility and was, back in the day, easily distinguishable from the beige IBM clones. The dark brown fascia with the Amiga logo pasted on the front easily separated it from the PC, but Commodore was at least smart enough to know that it needed to look like a computer to sell.
Also, back then, all computers were heavy. It wasn't until the mid to late 90's, when LAN party gaming really started to take off, that people demanded lightweight, more portable boxes. The Pentium 200Mhz tower that I bought in 1996, made the A2000 look like a wafer.
And, yes, I was kidding about the A1500, but the A2000 is definitely not, nor should it be remotely considered, the least popular Amiga.
Cheers.
++Chris
-
@save2600
I think the A500+, because it was sold to me as an Amiga 500 by a Commodore dealer, and when i tryed to play my 2 favourite games at that time, SWIV and Lotus Espirit Turbo Challenge, it failed due to incompatibilities with kickstart 2.04 :(
On the other hand, it was 1992, i bought it to play those games and i couldnt, and if i had saved more bucks i could have bought an Amiga 1200.
It was so unpopular that Commodore retired it from the shops soon after they released it!
So, i hate it!
-
If there were only some way to make those A600 keyboards compatible with the mini-mig or PC connectors so I could wedge a better computer inside the A600 case (running an Amiga Emulator or something), I would be in heaven. Provided I could find another A600.
-Alex
http://www.vesalia.de/e_keyrah%5B4761%5D.htm
I know atleast 1 guy who wedged an Efika into an A600 useing this.
-
Well, it seems the winner is the A1500--it hasn't even been mentioned in the least popular thread!
The A1500 is an A2000. As is the A2500.
-
Well, it seems the winner is the A1500--it hasn't even been mentioned in the least popular thread!
But it wasn't separate Amiga model at all.. just normal A2000 with extra drive and removable sticker :) Only sold in UK.
For the main question I'd say A600 too. It didn't sell much as at that time it didn't offer that much more than A500 in practise. And Amiga's most popular days were ending at that time. Although I think it was the last Amiga model sold in "normal" shops here (Finland). A1200 was only sold in dedicated shops, but as it was that much better than older models, it got more popular among the hobbyists.
But nowadays the situation is a bit distorted. I guess the A600 is one of the most popular models to get into retro computing...
-
@Gulliver
...and if you really did bought A1200 at that time (OK, maybe in early 1993) you would still be short of joy on getting most of KS1.3 games working at all. KS2+ did made quite a mess back then, but it could be remedied with extra effort.
For me, A1000 was and still is the least popular Amiga. Very hard to expand and maintain at all times...
-
The A1500 is an A2000. As is the A2500.
My A2500 is not an A2000--the badge says so! (lol, that previous post was a joke, BTW).
-
Well, it seems the winner is the A1500--it hasn't even been mentioned in the least popular thread!
I hope you don't mean my Checkmate 1500 :-)
-
I would go to say an A3500 is the rarest one or an original Commodore A4000T. The A600's are as commen as muck compared to them.
Or maybe the A2500?
@Gulliver
...and if you really did bought A1200 at that time (OK, maybe in early 1993) you would still be short of joy on getting most of KS1.3 games working at all. KS2+ did made quite a mess back then, but it could be remedied with extra effort.
at all times...
Thats very strange as my one is from early '93 and I never had an issue with OCS games before (just used the boot up trick with the mouse buttons).
-
The A1500 is an A2000. As is the A2500.
I thought the A1500 was just a towerised A1200 with a micronik Z2 busboard ??
EDIT: Was getting confused with the "Micronik A1300" and "Micronik A1400" in their horrible plastic towers. I really don't like those towers..
-
I thought the A1500 was just a towerised A1200 with a micronik Z2 busboard ??
No the A1500 was sold in the UK only as far as I know. Long story short it was to try and blow the after market A500 desktop case kit (Checkmate) out of the market with Commodores "official" A1500, which is an A2000 with an extra floppy drive and a sticker over the "A2000" badge.
Hardly see the point why they went to all that effort as the desktop kit was far from a good seller.
-
I need to chime in here from the UK and say that although the 600 was great looking - the 2.04 Rom's caused no end of problems in getting games to work so in that sense (along with the 500+) it was the most unpopular. These days though (as I think Camy said) you can have an A600 with 3.1 Roms and Compact Flash solution that works as sweet as a nut and I'm now seeing these as being really desirable (my friend has one like this and it's tops!). So you can't play AGA games on it but no REAL loss there :)
For rarity (which obv is not the same as unpopular) I would say that the A4000 was the rarest of machines where I lived at the time - probably due to their price. The A1200 was probably the most popular of all the machines as everyone I knew upgraded their 500's for an A1200 and I think that still, these days the 1200 with the compact flash solution is a fantastic machine (especially if you add an indivision to it!).
John
-
I don't like my A2000s. They are a heavy A1000 with ZII slots. It doesn't have too many useful features. For classic gaming, i'd get an A500. Much more portable. I don't regret growing up with an A2000 though...
-
I'd have to say that the walker is the least popular. The case design just didn't make good sense, not to mention that the white disk drives against the black case clashed. As for the A600 well, when Walden Software was selling them on the cheap I bought as many as I could and sold them to friends who loved them due to easy TV connectivity, easy portability do to it's compact design and the fun factor of course. I had one friend who expanded his with an accelerator, ram, and 3.1 roms, got online and used it to do some web design. I also read about a guy who used one to run a desktop publishing company and the only expansion he bought for it was a ram card. So the A600 was really the first minimig and a pretty nice machine in my opinion.
-
I don't know if prototypes count.
-
I'll probably be drawn and quartered, but my vote for current LEAST popular Amiga is the A1000. As stock, it's a little TOO retro. (Kickstart on a floppy disk? OCS? 256KB RAM? OUCH!) As upgraded, it kind of loses it's novelty as the first Amiga. (It's the first Amiga, except I added a real Kickstart board, wedged in a hard drive and a sane amount of RAM, or even swapped the whole motherboard! But it's still somehow the first Amiga! ...errr...).
The 600 was (rightfully) the least popular on release. It was one of Commodore's worst decisions, and that is saying something, being from a company known for bad decisions. But, today, since ALL Amigas are so retro, The A600's cute shape and compact size make it kind of adorable. And the PCMCIA and memory slots now have easy to obtain accessories available, so that has helped it gain popularity, as well.
To me, the A500+ was just a revision of the A500. Sure, you got a 2.04 ROM with it, but you could buy a $20 kickstart switch, and pick up a cheap (or sometimes free) 1.3 ROM from your local C= dealer, and voila, instant compatibility obtained. Quite FAR from the least popular. (And if you had an A500, you probably bought that same kickstart switch and socketted a 2.04 on it, so you could use newer utilities, anyhow, so I really fail to see any real relevance in caring which ROM version shipped with any particular A500 revision.)
Back in the day, having the kickstart switcher, ECS Agnus, and PAL/NTSC switch were typically the telltale marks showing that someone actually USED that A500. ;)
-
I'd have to say that the walker is the least popular.
Ridiculous, the demand to units produced ratio on the Walker would blow any other Amiga away, and that's how I'd define popularity.
-
I'll probably be drawn and quartered, but my vote for current LEAST popular Amiga is the A1000. As stock, it's a little TOO retro. (Kickstart on a floppy disk? OCS? 256KB RAM? OUCH!) As upgraded, it kind of loses it's novelty as the first Amiga. (It's the first Amiga, except I added a real Kickstart board, wedged in a hard drive and a sane amount of RAM, or even swapped the whole motherboard! But it's still somehow the first Amiga! ...errr...).
You asked for it ;-)
-
I thought the Walker was a nice deisgn at the time, and it would have probably been a better idea if it had been made, rather than selling high priced standard A1200's again.
In terms of how much use they must get, the CDTV and in particular 1000 must be the least popular, they are so limited in use and are very limited in terms of expansion.
On the other hand if you want to know how unpopular an amiga is based on how much people are prepared to pay for them, then the CDTV and 1000 are at the opposite end, and its the 500 and 600's that come off worst, as they can be bought for so little.
-
The A4000 should be least popular. I highly recommend everyone here dump their piece of sh!t A4000's, and upgrade to the most well-built, professional Amiga model made - the flagship A2000. ;-)
-
Surely the A4000T has to be least popular, on the grounds that there weren't many of them made...
Failing that, the A600 would be least popular because they're silly. My first Amiga was a brand new A600 (upgraded from C64) back in 1992. I remember thinking I would have been better off getting an old A500.
If the A600 had stuck with it's original name - the A300, I believe it would have made a lot more sense. Damn the upper echelons of Commodore mis-management!!
-
The A4000 should be least popular. I highly recommend everyone here dump their piece of sh!t A4000's, and upgrade to the most well-built, professional Amiga model made - the flagship A2000. ;-)
Don't you hate it when your account gets hi-jacked by Doomy ;-)
I do have a fond attachment to my A2500 though and wouldn't trade it for a similarly setup A4000! :lol:
-
A600 sucks.
-
Surely the A4000T has to be least popular, on the grounds that there weren't many of them made...
Failing that, the A600 would be least popular because they're silly. My first Amiga was a brand new A600 (upgraded from C64) back in 1992. I remember thinking I would have been better off getting an old A500.
If the A600 had stuck with it's original name - the A300, I believe it would have made a lot more sense. Damn the upper echelons of Commodore mis-management!!
Wouldn't that logic make the A3000UX & A3000T even less popular based on the number made. 8^)
For me there isn't a less popular Amiga, they all were great. I really miss the thrill of the old computer world where completely new computer models and operating systems seemed to be just around the corner. Now we all just wait for the next bigger hard drive and faster processor to come out and new versions of Windows.
I know the market is more mature now but I just wish there was really a new ground breaking company on the horizon to release a truly revolutionary computer/OS combination to the market.
However, now there will be multiple posts saying how it's impossible. While that's exactly what I'm talking about, think about how impossible the Amiga was when it was released. I really miss seeing the impossible become possible. Oh, well I better get back to replying to emails and checking the EMC backup jobs on my PeeCee.
-
Wouldn't that logic make the A3000UX & A3000T even less popular based on the number made. 8^)
true :)
Consider the A3000+ ;)
-
I vote A600 for the simple points of: came later then A500+ yet less capable
Every other model had a space/need in the line; the only reason for the A600 was to produce a cheaper A500 (indeed... an A300) but by the time it came out... people were looking up not down.
A1000: well, something has to 1st
A500(+): cheap and cheerful games machine
A2000: plenty of expansion possible
A3000: bit of an inbetween, delivers auite nicely bare, yet can be expanded nicely
A3000T: overpriced A2000 with extras
A1200: next gen cheap and cheerful games machine
A4000: to pricey if you (at the time) already invested in an extended A2000
A4000T: bleep :-) all of the above, but can't afford it even today !
blinking back... if the A500+ had not existed... but was released as an A600 motherboard in an A500 enclosure... then it would have been ok
just my opinion of course
Tom UK
-
I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time designating any Amiga to LEAST popular. Lame, I know. :)
But like someone else mentioned earlier in this thread, times change. I remembered hating the A600 when it came out, but being relieved upon seeing the true successor to the mythical A500: the A1200. But now, in the mind blowing, dazzling 21st century future times we live in I have an A600 in my collection and I really like it for its compact size and ease with which I can stick a Compact Flash card into its IDE port using a CF-IDE adapter. Funny how things change.
-
It was the A600, at least until very recently. I remember in the early days of my eBay selling (1997ish, despite eBay saying I registered in 1998), I would have a hard time getting anything for a new in the box A600. My friend's brick & mortar Amiga shop couldn't move A600s at all. It was a terribly underpowered Amiga when it came out and showed the stupidity on parade at Commodore.
That said, nowadays NTSC Amiga 600s are a hot commodity. So I guess it depends on what era you mean. Nowadays? Amiga 2000s are like kryptonite. Earlier this year I auctioned a new boxed Amiga 2000 and got ~$150. I felt like I got kicked smack in the scrotum. :eek:
Really? I had a motherboard repaired by AmigaFrance and it rests comfortably in my garage awaiting installation. I replaced it with a PAL board when it failed and haven't had it running. What's an NTSC motherboard worth these days?
-
To defend the A600 a bit (the one I have came from CBM as a tester and then I had nobody to send it to!) it did have some virtues. First, unlike the A500, it was easy to install an internal hard drive which made it the most portable Amiga produced. I have a bag from England that was designed to carry the machine to a buddies to play games on the TV. It was an excelllent game machine at the time (ironic since that's how Amiga started life).
I used mine mainly for telecom as I moved to the Mac. The A600 made a great second Amiga but it would have been even better with AGA!
-
Back in the day it has had to be the A600. The guy responsible, whose name I don't have to hand, was also responsible for the IBM PC Junior. Engineers at Commodore referred to it as the Amiga Junior and at one point he threatened to fire the next guy who said it. Commodore UK even refused to take it but were ultimately over ruled.
-
His name was Lou Eggebrecht. Somewhere on the net is an article I wrote for GEnie on his address at the World of Commodore Pasadena at the announcement of AGA and the 4000. From what I heard later, the Pasadena speech was a complete load of bull droppings!
Bob
-
A600 sucks.
Actually, the A600 rocked and rocks. It does have the distinction of being "least popular", but the masses do not always know best. Great portable machine if you know your way around the Amiga :-)
-
Really? ... What's an NTSC motherboard worth these days?
The problem is FINDING one. An NTSC A600 will probably fetch a good hundred to two hundred USD, but they are very hard to find. I would have to estimate for every NTSC A 600 that exists, there are probably 50- 100 PAL units (if not more).
From what I understand it is like the A1000 over in Europe. Here in North America, they are quite plentiful and very easy to get, but I understand that is not the case over there.
I would have to argue that the least popular Amiga, depends on the region of the world they are in. Here in Canada, the A2000 seems to be the least popular and most available unit (other than the A500). I, for the life of me, can't understand why someone would even consider taking an A500 over an A2000, but there you go.
-
The problem is FINDING one. An NTSC A600 will probably fetch a good hundred to two hundred USD, but they are very hard to find. I would have to estimate for every NTSC A 600 that exists, there are probably 50- 100 PAL units (if not more).
Make me an offer if you'd like one. For $200 plus shipping I'd sell it in a hot minute!
Anyone at AmiWest could save delivery fees!
-
My vote goes for the CDTV. I only know one guy who bought it, and he hardly ever used it.
-
Make me an offer if you'd like one. For $200 plus shipping I'd sell it in a hot minute!
Anyone at AmiWest could save delivery fees!
Oh, I got one already Paid $100 for it. But the last few that went up on Ebay.ca went for about $200 usd. I don't even want to mention the one from Quebec that had the accelerator in it. IIRC that one went for 280-300.
-
ok, you may not like a600 at all, but what would you say if you have something like this?
http://www.amigahellas.gr/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=2376&viewmode=flat&order=ASC&type=&mode=0&start=0
maybe it's sounds greek but... follow your heart
-
ok, you may not like a600 at all, but what would you say if you have something like this?
Does it get cable or satellite TV? :lol:
-
would you buy one if it could?
-
would you buy one if it could?
Nope I like my A1200 tower far too much
-
I never really got the Anti-A600 movement. Even back in 1992 it seemed like it was just angry a500 owners looking for something to take their anger out on.
I got an A500Plus for Xmas 1991, but as soon as I saw the grainy photos of the A600 in Amiga Shopper in April 92, I craved one.
I eventually got an A1200 but finally picked up an A600 from eBay afew years ago. Basically you're getting an A500 but with 1/4 of the footprint ( the a500 design wasn't great) with a built in hard disk/CDROM interface (cost about £400 to add one to the A500) surface mount chips were much more reliable, plus thanks to PCMCIA it worked with future A1200 peripherals.
I personally think the A600 is a much nicer and better value machine than the A500.
-
From what I understand it is like the A1000 over in Europe. Here in North America, they are quite plentiful and very easy to get, but I understand that is not the case over there.
Rare as hens teeth here, even really bad banged up PAL examples fetch astronomical ammounts of "£'s". It may be genesis but it isn't worth that much if you ask me as it is so limited to upgrades.
-
Rare as hens teeth here, even really bad banged up PAL examples fetch astronomical ammounts of "£'s". It may be genesis but it isn't worth that much if you ask me as it is so limited to upgrades.
Its funny, I say that about the A500 here. Any "real" upgrade other than the 501 ram expansion is so outrageously priced, it make you wonder why the thing is so popular. I ordered a few PAL A600 from the UK, dropped a 3.1 ROM and a CF card inside. I use the North American power supply and the unit has more use than any A500's I have.
I really am confused when people say the A500 has so many "upgrades" because, obviously they are just not available at all in North America for a decent price.
Infact, the A1000 is so much easier to find upgrades for than the A500. (in Canada anyway).
-
Love em or hate them the A600 was more popular than you think...
http://www.amigahistory.co.uk/sales.html
I do like the figures for the C64.. Classic.
The most unpopular Amiga in my view was the CDTV. Though it never carried the Amiga badge, it confused the user base blurring the true strength of the Amiga computer.
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz40.htm
The CD32 wasn`t much better, and quickly spawned the likes of the SX-32 to try and rescue the console back to its origins.
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz263.htm
The A2000, though a beast was incredibly versatile in its day and was loved to death by its user base. It also had a massive amount of revisions to the motherboard..
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz276.htm
The A500 takes the award for being the most popular, though the A1200 is still the greatest computer ' ever ' made.
scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com